Ordinance requires motel, hotel registration records

SAN MARCOS — The City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance that would require hotels and motels to maintain adequate registration records and provide access to records to law enforcement.

The vote was 5-0. The ordinance will take effect in 30 days.

The city considers that measure an investigative tool for law enforcement, said Jenny Peterson, the city’s communications officer.

“Our overarching goal is public safety,” she said.

A hotel’s register must include a guest’s full name, address, check-in and checkout dates and times and room number; the names of other occupants in the room; a photocopy of the registered guest’s legal identification; a guest’s vehicle information, such as make and license plate number; and a guest’s signature.

The ordinance requires the hotels to provide access to the register to law enforcement. The information would be kept for three years.

The ordinance also requires that minors in a guest room be accompanied by their parents or legal guardian, or have parental permission.

In a provision designed to crack down on prostitution, the ordinance prohibits renting a room to the same guest more than once within an eight-hour period.